Bonds Forged in Fire
by ImperialGuard202
Summary: what happens when a Female Twe'lik Smuggler and a male Zabrak Republic Trooper cross paths on the war torn plant of Ord Mantell? read and find out.


**AN: I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the old Republic, the planet mentioned or the NPC characters mentioned in this story. Those are owned by their respective companies of Lucas Arts, Bioware, and their partners. . I claim ownership of only the characters Sandosa and Folkvor. Please review and comment :)**

* * *

NEAR THE PLANET ORD MANTELL

It was quite on the republic transport. Folkvor was asleep for most of the trip, but for some reason he found himself stirring from his relaxing slumber. He scanned the compartment where several other republic troopers were also strapped in. His gaze fell upon a particularly polished piece of metal. In its reflection it mirrored Folkor's own face. A beige skinned Zabrak with traditional tattoos representing his clan and three long scars running vertically over his left eye. Folkvor continued to look at the refection with memories of the mission and the man who was ultimately responsible for giving Folkvor this scar started to seep their way in to his head.

His train of thought was quickly interrupted as the compartment started to shake violently. The ship now found itself flying through a space battle that was being waged between the Separatist forces of Ord Mantell and the loyalists. Folkvor took a deep breath and sighed… _this is going to be bumpy_ he thought to himself.

* * *

NEAR ORD MANTELL

_Well… this makes things interesting_ Sandosa Thought to herself as she saw the scene unfold in front of her. Republic and loyalist were engaged in a heated battle with the Separatists. The blue skinned Twe'lik leaned back in her chair, and started to rub the scar that ran vertically over her eye that even after all this time still bothered here every now and then. Memories of the day when she got this scar, the imperial that abandoned her and her people in their hour of need started to seep into her head. She tried to put the memories out of her head by observing the chaos unfold in front of her and her ship. Bright green and Red flashes of blaster cannon fire were exchanged between ships and a slight smile formed on her lips.

"It's been a while since I put my skills to the test like this," she said to herself as she stretched out her stiff body from the long trip, "should be fun."

With that Sandosa griped the control console and launched the Blue Lighting into the fray. She nimbly guided her ship through the chaos pulling off evasion maneuvers that would put the fighter aces of the republic to shame. She was close to her atmosphere entry point when out of nowhere a republic Transport appeared next to her.

"Oh Son of a Bantha!" Sandosa quickly veered her ship to the right avoiding the near collision with the transport as it too veered away from Sandosa's Freighter. "Why those Two-toed, swamp-sucking, laser brained, One-eyed, egg-sucking sons of slime-devils! Where do they get off coming out of nowhere and almost hitting my Ship!" Sandosa fumed over the near collision with the transport and the damage it would have caused to her precious ship, but that soon put out of her mind as she thought of the amount of credits she would make after she dropped off these weapons.

* * *

ORD MANTELL- MILLITARY SPACEPORT

The ship shook violently as they broke through the atmosphere, but soon subsided as they slowed their descent and stabilized their altitude. Folkvor was rubbing the side of his neck that was now sore from the sudden jarring motion that the ship made before they started their descent. He didn't have a lot of time to think about what would cause the pilot to pull such a maneuver right before they were to enter atmo because soon the ship was docked at a spaceport under Republic control. As he exited the craft he was greeted by a fellow Republic trooper. The trooper was big and built like a tank but he was human. He was black with his hair shaved short in the typical pattern that was common among troopers and wore white and orange armor with the Havoc squad insignia on the chest plate. The trooper waved Folkvor over to a republic heavy walker and proceeded into the troop compartment of it. Folkvor fallowed him into compartment and took up a seat next to his new squad mate.

The Trooper gave out a long sigh of relief and said in a relaxed and cherry voice, "Nothing like take a ride in a heavy walker right though a combat zone huh kid?" the pilots voice came over the compartments speaker reporting of small arms fire in the area and the Seps were moving on an objective. The trooper took another sigh, "another beautiful day on Ord Mantell you excited kid, nervous? You're the first new recruit to Havoc squad in a in some time."

Folkvor leaned back in his seat and attempted to stretch his stiff muscles and plainly Said, "This isn't my first combat tour sir, I didn't get these strips just for graduating from the academy."

The trooper smiled, "confidents, I like it. Being recruited to Havoc squad at your age is nothing to laugh at."

Folkvor had to agree with him on that. Being 22 with only five years of service under his belt it's amazing the rank he held and on top of that he was now part of Havoc Squad, the most elite Special Forces unit in the republic.

"I'm Lieutenant Bex Kolos but everyone in Havoc just call me Gear box… we're a tight unit you'll like it here."

"Sergeant Folkvor Sato, I don't really have a nickname"

Gear box laughed a little at that, "that's not a problem we'll think of something. Now on to the business at hand…"

* * *

DRELLIAD VILLAGE SPACEPORT

The rest of Sandosa's trip was uneventful. After successfully breaking atmo she flew her ship to the meeting site of a small village's spaceport. As Sandosa finished her finial landing procedures she made her way to the ship's airlock. Once she felt the jolt of the ship making land fall she lowered the ramp and opened the air lock door. She then made her way to the hanger where she had landed her ship outside of. As she made her way she was greeted by a human man wearing a blue vest jacket and a white shirt underneath it. He was a bit taller than Sandosa but not by much. He was tanned for a spacer with brown hair that was combed back coming down to the base of his neck. He had a type of tattoo on the right side of his face that seemed to trace from his chin, along the cheek bone, and end right above his eyebrow.

"Can't believe you made it through that shooting gallery Captain… the ship isn't even scratched." As he quickly looked over the ship.

"It's all thanks to my lighting fast reflexes and my impeccable timing. Even with that transport fiasco." Sandosa saying the last part a little under her breath.

"Transport?"

"Uh… its nothing important." Remembering that it wasn't really necessary to concern him with.

Still bit confused he continued with the business at hand and shrugged his shoulders at the mention of the transport. "Anyway it takes some guts to land in the middle of a war zone… looks like your reputation as a first class pilot isn't just for show." With that he led Sandosa into the hanger.

"The name is Skavak, I'm the one picking up those blasters you're delivering." He started to bring up information on a terminal but Sandosa didn't recognize the names or the other orders on it. He seemed to be in a rush.

"Is there a problem?" slightly put on edge of the pace he seemed to be moving at. And she was starting to get a bad feeling about this job.

"Sorry about the rush but Seps are taking control of the area and they'll be all over us in no time," Skavak reached in to one of his pockets and pulled a leather sack full of Credits, "here's your payment for the job… once I get those blasters your free to blast out of here."

Sandosa was about to accept the payment when another human ran into the hanger. He was darker skinned, had his brown hair was in dread locks which he had tied into a type of ponytail, and he was wearing what looked like a greenish brown flight suit. "Skavak we have a problem! The Seps took control of the local air defense cannon."

"Whoa Corso, slow down slow down… what are you talking about?" Skavak made his way over to Corso to better hear him

"The Seps deployed some sort of remote control stations. High jacked the cannon's targeting computer and the damn separatists just shot down a republic transport!"

"Huh hopefully they shot down the one that tried to cut me off." Sandosa said in a light hearted manner as she made her way over to the two men. Corso just gave Sandosa a look of disapproval at the comment. "What? I was joking… and why do I get the feeling that this is going to throw a wrench into my plans of getting off this rock?"

"That feeling would be right. They can shoot down any incoming _or_ outgoing ship as they please… including us, do to those remote control stations." Corso explained.

Skavak turned to Sandosa, "This isn't good captain. If you even attempt to take off the Seps will blow you out of the sky."

"Fantastic," Sandosa said sarcastically as she crossed her arms, "any ideas on how I can get out of here without the Seps punching some holes into my ship?"

Corso came up with the answer "you'll have to take out several of the control stations if you want them to lose control of the cannon."

Sandosa took out a Credit chip and flipped it into the air. Skavak and Corso watched as the coin continued to gain altitude. Sandosa then quickly upholstered her blaster pistol and shot the coin as it just started its decent. Their gazes then fell on Sandosa as she executed a series of pistol tricks before securing it in the holster. She then gave a faint smile, "that all? Keep the reactor running this won't be long." With that she made her way to the hanger exit.

"Good luck Captain!" Corso yelled before Sandosa was out of ear shot and after catching a breath he held in while observing Sandosa. In all his years he never encountered a ship captain quite like her and hoped he'll be able to work with her more in the future… if she made it back that is.

"Come on Corso we have work to do." Skavak remind him

* * *

DRELLIAD VILLAGE

"Well… so far so good" Sandosa whispered to herself. She made her way in to the village with little difficulty. She turned the corner and found herself looking at one of the remote control stations, and to her annoyance a small unit of Separatists. "Why for once in my life can't I have a job go smoothly?"

Sandosa noticed one of the separatists was armed with an Assault Cannon. _Well you're the first one to go_. She thought to herself as she prepped a sabotage charge. She looked at the other two and it looked like they we just armed with run of the mill blaster pistols. Once the charge was ready she threw it at the one with the Assault Cannon. He didn't even have time to prep his cannon because once the charge latched on to him Sandosa quickly fired her blaster pistol at the charge and detonated it. The Separatist was then sent flying into a wall that was behind him

"One down and two to go!" Sandosa cheered as she lunged to another piece of cover. Her two opponents did the same and were now in cover. They tried to pin her down but that just worked to her advantage. From their shots she could judge their relative location. She then prepared a little trick her older brother taught her. She started to slowly build up the charge of her pistol as to not over load it. It was soon ready, she quickly rolled from the safety of her cover and fired a controlled burst of the now overloaded bolts in too one the separatist.

"That's two down…" and without missing a beat fired a single bolt into the chest of the last separatist, "and that's three." Sandosa walked over to the remote control station and then fired at its power core causing the station to explode in several places do to an overload.

Sandosa smirked to herself, "just like I thought… this won't be a problem, knock out maybe two more of these things and I'm off this rock" Sandosa then turned around and was about to start her search for another station when she saw a very unpleasant sight. A LOT of separatists were running in her direction and they did not look pleased.

"There's the intruder that is trying to take down the air defense cannon! Kill her!" one the separatist's yelled.

"Uh oh…" Sandosa dodged the first few blaster bolts just in time to get herself to some cover. "Well so much for easy!"

* * *

NEAR DRELLIAD VILLAGE

"Sir let me get his strait… the Separatists have an orbital strike bomb which we have no idea where they hid the thing?" Folkvor asked in disbelief.

"That's the gist of it; the Seps have a lot of popular support and just as many hideouts." Gear box said in a calm manner.

"How much destruction can this bomb cause?" Folkvor asked trying to assess the potential damage.

"The warhead has enough firepower to turn this whole island into one big crater." replied Gear Box plainly.

Folkvor leaned his head back and closed his eyes trying to wrap his head around the whole situation. A bomb meant to be used for the annihilation of planets was now in the hands of separatist extremists, and if half of what's he's read about these separatists are true this was a major problem.

Gear box could tell that he was that Folkvor was uneased by the information. "Look we'll get a full brief once we get to Fort Garnik. For now just sit back and…" before Gear box could finish his sentence the troop compartment shook violently throwing the unsecured troopers around and explosions erupted from different parts of the compartment as the distinct alarm was blaring.

"Code Red! Rode Red! We've been hit by so kind of AP missile," the pilot relayed throughout the walker, "it seems to be shoulder mounted and fired from the village! Everyone hold…" A second Missile was then fired and hit the driver compartment.

"Pilot, Pilot!" gear box yelled in to the comm. system not knowing that the pilot was already dead. "Damn the pilot must be down. Back water Separatists aren't supposed to have access the Armor piercing munitions."

Folkvor slowly got up from the floor that he was thrown too and tried to regain his loss sense of balance. "Well, it looks like they do to me sir." Shaking his head and finally getting his balance.

Gear box started to inspect the damage to the walker on one of the intact computers inside the compartment and did not look pleased. "With those missiles they'll rip apart any convoy that passes through here."

"How do you want do this sir?" Folkvor asked starting to make his way over to Gear Box

"Fixing this kind of stuff has always been my specialty. I'm nowhere near the fighter you are." Gear Box making his way to the troop hatch.

"So the plan is I take out the missiles, and you try to get this walker up and running." Folkvor fallowed Gear box the hatch.

"You catch on quick kid" smiling at the promise that Folkvor showed, "the cache they probably have them gathered in will probably be heavily guarded, you going to be all right?"

Gear box then opened the hatch of the compartment. Folkvor got his first look at what the battle for Ord Mantell would be like. Large blue blaster bolts arched through the sky as they were fired from artillery cannons and the distinct sound of small arms blaster fire in the distance. Folkvor took the blaster rifle that he had slung from his back and walked out of the compartment and looked back at Gear Box with a slight smirk on his face, "I'm not the one you need to worry about sir."

* * *

HILL TOP LOOKING OVER DRELLIAD VILLAGE

From the hill top Folkvor had a good view of the Village. But he still couldn't see the cache he was looking for. He was considering going through the front entrance when something caught his eye. It was blaster fire, and a lot of blaster fire. Even for this village that was a lot of blaster fire. _Well I guess I'll start there_.

Folkvor started his decent from the hill. As he did his view of the fire fight became clearer and he noticed something that surprised him. He originally thought that the Separatists were fighting republic troops or members of the Ord Mantell military. Instead it looked like it was a single Twe'lik that the Separatists where firing on, and she was clearly out gunned. Folkvor did one last check on his equipment before breaking off into a sprint down the hill to assist the over whelmed Twe'lick.

* * *

DRELLIAD VILLAGE

Sandosa was in a tight spot. She has been able to keep them at bay for a while now but there simply too many of them and they must have had two or three guys with Assault cannons because the amount of blaster fire they were unleashing was unreal. All she could do is blindly fire her pistol around the cover. Otherwise she had two other options, either be over run or having her face meet a blaster bolt up close. Not thrilled about either outcome she did he best to keep them at bay with the pot shots. She was about to fire another series of pot shots when she heard the whine of her pistol.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Sandosa quickly checked the power pack of her pistol and as she fear is was empty.

"That's it people, Get her!" one of the separatist commanded and Sandosa could hear the clatter of boots to ground to know that they were getting closer.

"Like hell you are! I'm dying on this rock!" Sandosa yelled back as she searched for a spare power pack.

"Ha say that all you like! It won't change a…" the separatist was cut off as an explosive round landed right in front of his feet sending him flying.

There was a lull in the separatist's fire as they tried to locate this new threat. A second explosive round hit a separatist that was armed with an assault cannon square in the chest. Sandosa realized that the shots were coming from the hill side and turned her gaze to see who it was. Sandosa couldn't make out his face do the position of the sun but could tell that he was a Zabrak from his body's silhouette.

It didn't take long for the separatists to figure out where their new enemy was. They forgot Sandosa and started firing on this new threat. But by this time two of their Assault Cannons where out of the game and a few of the regular infantry. The Zabrak continued a moderate advance on Sandosa's position unaffected by the blaster fire of the separatists. Sandosa took this opportunity to find that spare power pack and lock it into place. Leaning around the corner of her covered position she quickly took in the situation, _only one Assault Cannon and four guys with pistols_. She was about to aim for the last Assault cannon when she noticed that there was one more and it was behind the Zabrak!

"Hey! Behind you Laser Brains!" Sandosa yelled to the Zabrak.

The Zabrak quickly spun around and without hesitation fired a burst of blaster bolts right into the aggressor's chest. "Thanks now it's your turn, hit the deck!" the Zabrak yelled towards Sandosa.

At first Sandosa was perplexed by the command but then she noticed the last of the Separatists aiming at her. She quickly ducked behind her cover and moments later she heard a series of explosions and blasts of heated air roll over her. Then there was silence. Sandosa was surprised, expecting to hear more blaster fire but now she heard the sound of a single pair of boots calmly making their way to her. She slowly rose from the safety of her cover and came face to face with the Zabrak which she could now see was a republic trooper, and a skilled one at that.

"Now," the soldier asked, "what are you doing in a place like this?"

* * *

"Well you see" The Twe'lik Seemed debating whether or not to tell Folkvor the truth. Folkvor just stood there with his arms crossed impatiently waiting for an answer. The Twe'lik let out a sigh and seemed to have had up her mind. "I was hired to get some weapons here and as my ship landed the Seps took over the local air defense cannon effectively grounding me until I knock out the remote control stations."

Folkvor just stood there and mulled the situation over in his head. He examined the area around them and noticed what looked to be a control station or more precisely what's left of one. He looked at the Twe'lik again. _Seems possible enough _He thought to himself. His train of thought was interrupted when the Twe'lik's face lit up. _Uh oh… this can't be good_.

"Hey I have an idea! Why don't you help me soldier boy?" the Twe'lik asked with hope in her voice.

_Yeah not good, now I'm being dragged into her mess… although_ Folkvor thought to himself. He had to admit that Seps in control of the local air defense cannon was detrimental to the republic and knocking it out would be important. He looked at the digital clock that was built into his armor_. At least an hour before the next convoy was due to roll through_. He looked back at the Twe'lik and sighed to himself. He could never say no to someone in need of help.

"Alright" Folkvor said as he unslung his rifle.

"Really?" the Twe'lik asked a little shocked and confused.

Folkvor simply nodded and started to walk off into the direction of what looked like another one of those control stations. The Twe'lik ran to catch up to him and took point. She seemed to have a better idea of what they were looking for.

* * *

The other two stations weren't guarded at all and the two of them made short work of them. Folkvor didn't like the looks of it. If experience taught him anything it was; if something was going too smoothly it usually meant you were walking into a trap. Folkvor without noticing heightened his guard up.

The Twe'lik seemed to noticed and commented on the situation. "Looks like they're too afraid to mess with us after that shoot out earlier, eh?"

Folkvor smiled at the joke, but it was possible they took out the majority the security that was meant for the stations. But he felt that wasn't the case. He caught a glance of the Twe'lik and could tell she was thinking the same thing. Folkvor then remembered another thing about these air defense cannon systems as they made their way back to the hanger.

"I think there is one place we should look into if you want to get off this planet in one piece." Folkvor stated.

"Oh?" the Twe'lik asked with a raised eyebrow and annoyance in her voice. Probably from the fact she wanted to get back to her ship.

"The targeting computer for the cannon system." Folkvor plainly stated.

The Twe'lik's eyes light up at the mention as if she just remembered something important. Then they made their way to the building that was housing the system and made it their without encountering a single separatist. Now Folkvor was worried. _What could be so important that they'll leave the targeting computer unguarded_?

The Twe'lik waked over to the control computer and tried several time to override it. "Damn it!" she yelled after failing for about the fourth time and fired he pistol in to the computer.

"Subtle…" Folkvor said calmly with a hint of sarcasm.

"Got the job didn't it?" the Twe'lik retorted

Before Folkvor could give her his rebuttal a holo call was coming in for the Twe'lik. She answered it and a blue translucent figure of a man appeared. "Captain you there? This is Corso; we have trouble back here at the Hanger"

"Is Blue Lighting alright?" the Twe'lik asked with more concern then he's heard from her since they met.

"The ships fine," Corso reassured her, "the seps are hitting us hard here. We're giving them a warm welcome but we could use some help."

_Well that explains where they encountered little resistance at the stations_; Folkvor thought to himself.

"Luckily for us I picked up this soldier here" the Twe'lik simply pointed her thumb behind her in the direction of Folkvor.

"A soldier? Is that wise captain?"

"He already save my ass once without me asking and I have a good feeling about this guy" the Twe'lik looked back at him and smiled.

"If you say so Captain. Skavak help me with these doors. Skavak wait…" the transmission was cut prematurely and a look of horror fell on the Twe'lik's face.

"I need to get to my ship!" the Twe'lik yelled as she ran out of the building.

"Hey crazy wait up!" folkvor yelled as he ran to catch her, "you have no idea what you're running into!"

"My ship is in danger laser brains what else do I need to know?" the Twe'lik yelled as she rounded the corner leading in to the hanger. Folkvor lost sight of her for a few moments but then saw her run back out. "Crap crap crap crap…" was what the Twe'lik was chanting as Folkvor caught up to her.

"What's wrong?" Folkvor asked as he rounded the corner of the hanger just to be welcomed by a squad of Separatists charging towards him. "Oh"

Folkvor wasted no time. He quickly leveled his rifle and unleashed a flurry of blaster fire. Cutting down those that weren't quick enough to doge or take cover. Taking advantage of Folkvor's suppressive fire the Twe'lik found herself a good piece of cover.

"Can I trust you to handle these bush wackers?" The twelick asked as she fired an overcharged burst into a seps chest."

Folkvor fired a high explosive round at a pair of seps and knocked them both out. "You make sure that your ship is safe I'll be right behind you." With that he stated his slow and unwavering advance as he fired a combo of High explosive rounds and blaster fire into the enemy ranks.

The Twe'lik used the makeshift path the Folkvor made and made a dash to the other side of the hanger. She quickly looked over her shoulder yelled, "Thanks."

Some of the Separatists tried to chase the Twe'lik but Folkvor cut them off with some high explosive rounds. "Well I guess it about time I wrap things up here."

* * *

Sandosa could hear the sound of blaster fire dying down in the distance. With her blaster at the ready she methodically scanned the room. She knew she had a bad feeling about this job. _Mental note listen to your gut more often_.

Eventually Sandosa's gaze fell upon an unconscious Corso on the ground. Sandosa ran over to him to see what she could do. While turning him over to check for further injuries Corso started to come to his senses.

"ugh… I feel like a Gundark used my skull as a drum." As Corso staggered his way up to a standing position, "thanks for coming to save my hide Captain."

"anytime" Sandosa replied, as she saw the lengths he went to keep her ship safe.

"ummm I hate to interrupt but it that your ship?"

Sandosa turned around to see the soldier pointing off to the landing pad. She turned around in time to see here ship lift off and leave her behind.

"Why those… Scrag-end… Chuff-sucking Leechs! Give me back my ship you Pieces of Dianoga Dung!" Sandosa yelled into the sky and the ship vanished into the distance.

The soldier walked up and was standing next to Sandosa as she tried to catch he breath and plainly said, "Well… that just happened."

* * *

**AN: I realize I'm meshing the trooper story and the smuggler story together so if or when you review/comment on this chapter/story please do not crucify me for this. There is a very large method to my madness for these two characters.**


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